Wiesel Returns Reward

David Kurnick explores what makes Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels so addictive. As he puts it, “In Ferrante we see what grand novelistic ambition looks like devoid of writerly vanity.” Pair with Cora Currier’s essay on reading Italy through Ferrante’s books.

Recommended Reading: this moving piece from Andrew Higgins at The Rumpus on admissions of guilt.

“’When I finish reading one of her stories, I always feel understood and somehow forgiven for being human,’ Mr. George said. ‘It may simply come down to wisdom. Like the greats, Edith has it.'” Steve Almond gives an overview of Edith Pearlman‘s writing and publication history for The New York Times Book Review in the wake of the release of her latest collection, Honeydew, which Josh Cook recently reviewed for The Millions.

There’s a reason why we hate Comic Sans so much. Chris Gayomali discovers just how typeface can influence how we think and read. Hint: if you want to seem credible, use Baskerville. Pair with our essay on the obscure punctuation mark, the interrobang.

At the New York Times, Nicholas Kristof highlights a study finding that a classroom of students of a strong fourth-grade teacher will collectively earn $700,000 more over their lifetimes than those taught by a weak teacher.

George Pelecanos is the latest worthy writer to get the Obama bump.